The Project

The globalization of the design fields is one of the most significant changes professionals have grappled with in the last ten years. With cross-cultural collaborations on the rise, two important questions loom: 

·         How do schools of design prepare students to participate in projects that span borders and cultures?

·         How can firms cultivate their own expertise in negotiating the complexities and challenges that arise in international projects? 

The BAC proposes to respond to these questions by carrying out four interconnected enterprises:

1.      Work with select design firms to develop case studies of collaborative global practice.

2.      Create a semester-long, credit-bearing seminar, “Preparing for Collaborative Global Practice,” that will engage students in working with the firms to develop, analyze, and learn from these case studies.

3.      Host an end-of-semester symposium, open to all BAC students and faculty as well as the larger design community, at which the case studies will be presented and discussed.

4.      Make the case studies available through the BAC website for use by other students, design schools, and firms that seek to deepen their understanding of collaborative global practice.

In developing the case studies and the semester-long seminar, we will create an exchange among firms, students, and faculty that generates a greater understanding of how to engage effectively in design initiatives that reach across borders. Through the symposium and the online case studies, we hope to inspire an even broader discussion among practitioners, students and faculty (at the BAC and beyond) about the complexities inherent in international design work and the skills needed to navigate those complexities effectively.  

The development of both sessions is supported by a 2011 NCARB Grant for the Integration of Practice and Education in the Academy to the Boston Architectural College and by the Sasaki Foundation.